Latin Texts & Translations

The first of the flowers that announce the approach of spring is the white ^[Note] violet; indeed, in warm localities, it is seen peeping out in the winter even. Next to it comes the violet known as the ion, and the purple violet; then the flame-coloured flower, the name of which is phlox, ^[Note] but only the wild one. The cyclaminum ^[Note] blossoms twice a year, in spring and autumn, standing equally in awe as it does of summer and of winter. The narcissus and the lily, in the parts beyond sea, are a little later than the preceding plants: but in Italy, as we have already ^[Note] stated, they are in blossom with the rose. In Greece, too, the anemone ^[Note] blooms even later; it is the flower of a wild bulb, and is altogether different from the one ^[Note] which we shall have occasion to mention among the medicinal plants.

Next, after these, come the œnanthe, ^[Note] the melanion, ^[Note] and, among the wild plants, the helichrysos; ^[Note] then, another kind of anemone, known as the "limonia," ^[Note] and after that the gladiolus, ^[Note] accompanied by the hyacinth. Last of all, among the spring flowers, is the rose, which, with the exception indeed of the cultivated kinds, is also the first to fade. Among

the others, the flowers which last the longest, are the hyacinth, the white violet, and the œnanthe; but to make this last keep any time in flower, it is necessary to gather it repeatedly, to prevent it from running to seed. The œnanthe grows in warm localities, and has exactly the smell of the vine when in blossom, to which circumstance it is indebted for its name.

There are two fabulous stories attached to the hyacinth; ^[Note] according to one of them, it bears the impress of the grief ^[Note] which Apollo felt for the youth ^[Note] whom he had so tenderly loved; and we learn from the other, that it derives its name from the blood ^[Note] of Ajax, the veins being so arranged in the flower as to form the Greek letters αι inscribed upon it.

The helichrysos has a flower resembling gold in appearance, a small leaf, and a fine, slender, but hard, stem. According to the Magi, the person who crowns himself with a chaplet composed of this flower, and takes his unguents from a box of gold, of the kind generally known as "apyron," ^[Note] will be sure to secure esteem and glory among his fellowmen. Such are the flowers of spring.